Acid Pops and Chocolate
by Carnivalgirl
Summary: Yes, it's another RemusTonks one shot. Why is it that when you can't have it, you want it even more? I've tried to make it original... it has MAJOR HBP SPOILERS! Please read and review this, especially if you like symbolic fluff.


A/N: I was so happy with HBP, I just had a huge urge to do one of these. OK, the idea is not exactly original at all but I have added some of my Carnivalgirl quirkiness to it. Enjoy!

It was approaching three o'clock, and everyone in the Order of the Phoenix knew of Dumbledore's death. Some had gone home to tell their families and to mourn with them. Some were helping the children deal with their fear and bewilderment at the sudden murder f their Headmaster, stalling as long as they could to avoid expressing their own grief.

Remus Lupin was sat on one of Hogwarts' many small ledges, as he and his friends had done years before to watch lunar eclipses, ring in the New Year or just talk about pranks. Somehow Hogwarts didn't seem the same any more. It didn't feel like his school, like the one he had taught and learnt in. I felt like a new and disturbing place, like he had felt when returning to Grimmauld Place. Remus, a loyal and hardworking member of the Order, was dealing with his grief by sucking a Honeydukes Acid Pop. They were sour, but extremely delicious.

"You shouldn't be sucking those, Remus. They give you nightmares." said a once cheery voice. The mousy brown head of Nymphadora Tonks was sticking out of the window behind me.

"How do you know that?"

"Just do…" she said with a slight smile. "The first time you had one of those you screamed so loudly at night you woke up your neighbours and frightened the budgie so much it died."

Remus gave a slight laugh. That was a strange but true story. He had always been fond of sweets, particularly the ones he couldn't have. There was a sort of lure to them…knowing full well that you couldn't have it seemed only to make it more desirable, and in the end you just felt like it was worth it even if there was suffering to come.

"Who told you about me and Acid Pops?" Tonks smiled slightly. "Was it Sirius?"

"No, actually. It was that old woman who runs the chocolate shop in Belgrave. She knows you inside out, it's really weird. I was just talking to her when your name came up and she just spouted a whole load of random little facts about you. Dunno how she knows you."

"She…you are talking about Tentations Divines, aren't you? Well…she's my mother."

There was an awkward silence. Tonks seemed to feel a little guilty, as she hung her head and said nothing. Remus just watched her. It was weird how often he found himself doing it…she was beautiful, even in her depressed state. Her violet eyes were shining gorgeously, and her skin, though pale and wafery, was almost like the moon on a cold night. Pretty.

But Tonks was like an Acid Pop. In more ways that one, it seemed. She could be sour but was loved by many. Even Mad-Eye had once said in a moment of slightly-drunken sentimentality that Tonks was like the daughter he had never had. And Remus Lupin, even though he loved her deeply and every second of the few moments he spent with her, was fighting himself to stay away from her simply because the after consequences weren't worth a few moments of pleasure.

"You know," Tonks began. "Your mother says we'd make a good couple. She keeps saying so, in fact. I told her what you keep saying and she says if she sees you again she'll hit you over the head with her handbag to knock some sense into you."

"That sounds like her…" Remus said quietly. "She was a bit of an extrovert, and she wanted me to be one too. Go out there, she'd say, and find the nearest pretty girl and get her round here for a mug of chocolate! It won't do you any harm…"

"…_or her, for that matter." _Remus finished his mother's words in his head. She had been right, of course. All Tonks wanted was to love him, nothing else. And unconditional love is something many people would die for. Poets have tried for centuries to encapsulate it with endless metaphors…like Acid Pops. A delicious sweet with sad consequences.

"Tonks…."

"Yes?" she said bitterly. _Here we go again…_she thought. _For the million and first time._

"Would you like to…say…perhaps…we could go for a chocolate?"

"But what about the consequences?"

"Consequence that aren't worth the joy of what they follow?"

"Are you saying that…that you and I…"

"Yes. I…I love you, Nymphadora, and I want to spend many joyous hours with you. I don't care about the consequences. Being careful doesn't keep you safe…"

"As Dumbledore has taught us."

"Indeed. So…what do you say?"

"I say…about bloody time!" And with that, she threw herself into his arms and they kissed passionately.

Nymphadora Tonks was no Acid Pop. She was more like chocolate…and Remus had never had a nightmare after a dose of chocolate.


End file.
